Maybe if we say “Beetlejuice” three times, a sequel to the Tim Burton horror comedy will appear before us. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Hmm, it didn’t work. That’s too bad because it seems that that magical invocation may have been our best hope of actually getting this project off the ground. According to Burton, Beetlejuice Juice 2 will only move forward under the “right circumstances.”
There’s been talk of producing a Beetlejuice 2 since the ’90s. The Michael Keaton-led classic about a wild ghoul/bio-exorcist was a commercial success when it was released in 1988, grossing $73.7 million. In the past five years, those sequel whispers have been getting louder. In 2014, Burton said that he was working on a script. A year later, frequent Burton collaborator Seth Grahame-Smith said that the script was done, filming was scheduled to begin by the end of the year, and Beetlejuice stars Keaton and Winona Ryder would be reprising their roles. And yet, Burton talks about Beetlejuice 2 as if it’s just this cool idea and not actually in production. Collider asked Burton about his sequel plans.
This is the thing, it’s something that I’m interested in, but there’s so many stories [online], dumping Michael Keaton for Johnny Depp and this or that, and I’ve talked to these people and they didn’t wanna hear this so they just made up a story. But the fact of it is I have talked to Michael and I have talked to Winona, I’ve talked to a few people. It’s something that I really would like to do in the right circumstances, but it’s one of those films where it has to be right. It’s not a kind of a movie that cries out [for a sequel], it’s not the Beetlejuice trilogy. So it’s something that if the elements are right—because I do love the character and Michael’s amazing as that character, so yeah we’ll see. But there’s nothing concrete yet.
What those “circumstances” are and when they’ll actually come to pass are both mysteries that we’ll just have to wait to find out about. Until then, keep saying “Beetlejuice.”
[Collider]
